Van Leeuwen Ice Cream — Restaurant in Culver City

Service is everything :-(

OK. I walked in with my best friend and we were the only customers there. We were SO EXCITED because we hear they have vegan ice cream -- we made the trek over late on a Wednesday JUST FOR VEGAN ICE CREAM. SO. We are the only people in there, and we are gushing about the vegan flavors, asking questions about the vegan flavors, commenting how friends had challenged us to make great vegan ice cream flavors. So THEN, we ask for a sample--

Now, my disclaimer: I am not originally vegan by choice -- I have a triple immune response to dairy, and an immune and endocrine condition I must take medicine for. So, years ago, my doctors ordered me to stop eating dairy, because it wreaks havoc in my body. Sadly. I used to love Icelandic yogurt, believe me.

Anyway, back to us trying the samples -- I'm tasting this stuff, and thinking -- this tastes very funny. I then ask, "Is this vegan?" to which the guy working there (who I so wanted to be great -- he seemed cute and nice but alas was what, stoned? I'm not sure, but he was out of it.) says, "no, it's not."

UM -- hello? If you have multiple flavors and some are NOT vegan, and you clearly have vegans in your otherwise EMPTY shoppe, for the love of God -- please do your job, make sure you're delivering the right product.

It is now an hour later an my throat, tongue, and sinuses are still going into immune system overdrive from the dairy an egg yolk teaspoon I consumed. And that guy offered no consolation, only sad: "there's water on the counter behind you".

I guess I'm never going back to this place, and all my hopes of a nice, local, 'vegan-friendly' ice cream parlor have now been...

AMAZING ice cream 🍦 but pushy staff. No cash accepted here.

We really, really enjoyed the brown sugar walnut cookie dough ice cream. Wish we could have tried every flavor!

We were the only customers in the store and the person serving us was trying to hurry us along. It was pretty obvious this was our first visit as we were looking at the menu for a long time but she just wanted us out of the store and kept asking what else we wanted. Then after feeling rushed choosing a flavor, we get to the register and she says they don't accept cash. There's no sign that states this and she was pretty rude about it. Also I think it's a bit rich to say no cash, but have a tip jar full of cash sitting on the counter.

Good thing the ice cream's delicious because no one's coming back for the...

Ice cream chain with fun, inventive flavors. They had a caramelized onion one (that indeed tasted like the exact thing) as a temporary flavor as well as a a mustard one (that comes in a pint). Paid garage parking for the Platform as well as metered street parking available. You order and pay at the counter. Credit cards only. Outdoor benches are available to enjoy your treat. Vegan options are available. They have sundaes and ice cream cookie sandwiches as well.

When we went, they were doing one free topping with your order, which was nice. I got the dark chocolate fudge brownie with walnuts, and it was a very generous scoop. The pretzels were also a good topping choice. You have the option of doing either a...